Now I guess this blog entry is going to divide what audience I have, but to be truthful I am beyond giving a dam. As a wise person once said I am old enough to do what I what and young enough to enjoy it. So I am going to tackle the elephant in the world
sexuality.
yep that one. The one that many would love to file into a couple of tidy little boxes and hide it away. Sorry I am not so Victorian (on other matters I maybe). There has been a long overdue sexual revolution with trans gender and gay finally accepted into mainstream. Like racism and standard sexism it took its sweet arse time getting there, but finally we are learning to accept things aren't so black and white. Life is meant to be colourful and this stark barriers we have created are long overdue an appointment with a wrecking ball. Especially as they are standards proved by nature to occur not just in humans but all animal species, so don't even start with the "it's a carnal sin" bit. I have found nothing in any religion that persecutes animals for being fay, so why apply it to man or woman.
What I really am glad to see and would happily promote is the title fluid sexuality. The sooner they put that on some statistic tick box I will be ticking that. Why, you may ask, especially as superficial am typical WASP, but that's just my point, it's superficial. I may be married etc, but it doesn't define my soul status, or limit my horizons. I don't believe I am capable to define my love by gender let alone person, and maybe I have done myself more damage by marrying, as I have encased myself. Fluid sexuality in its rawest state means you love the soul, not the physical she'll, and isn't that what we are meant to do. As consenting adults we should stop the selfie culture of focusing on the shell and dig a little deeper into what sex is?
Before I get a lot of wise comments about the biology of sex reread what I have just said. I am talking about the inner conception between souls. The ability to be so intense with another you are one the same wave length, you don't need vocal language, or you can sense their pain miles away. That is real sex, sod the physical that's just the carnal pleasure and not the whole package. In fact the bodily action of inter course is so boring at times it becomes irrelevant. Sure it can be mind blowing when it reaches near perfection, but in reality how many times can you really say you have achieved that state of carnal bliss. The chances of reaching such euphoria are just as can be as easily achieved on a deeper spiritual level, and often a greater high.
By now I bet a few of my friends are bracing themselves for something scary if they are reading this, no I am not coming out as gay, again I wouldn't want to limit myself. Not that I feel that's wrong, if you are 100% straight or gay then I applaud you too, I just can no longer say I am 100% anything. That's my point, I really wonder how many people really are?
The reason I choose to start writing this has been brewing on my mind. Yes I follow a lot of performers and actors, and more and more I see their sexuality is an open mine field of free comments, criticism and trolling, and why? Are we that needy we have to label people. So many people are being judged by what others think they are or should be, when perhaps they are actually being more honest than the majority of society, may I draw your attention to Amber Heard, James Franco and Lily Rose Depp as examples. They have all addressed the matter head on fed up with the gossip. Although they may not have given an answer that meets the approval of the masses, they have given an answer that is their truth. An answer that they shouldn't need to give to be honest, as it's no ones dam business if we were to get real for a moment.
The truth as I see it is, and this from my limited performance experience, is that most performers, artists entertainers and similar, are actually more in tune with their own inner self or inner desire (ID), than the mainstream person, it's how a realistic performance is achieved. By this attachment and awareness of the ID, they are more relaxed in how they content with another being. Thus probably making them more truthful to themselves. How ever by default it makes them more open to being labelled or at least societies need to label.
So if there is one thing I ask you to be it's more open minded to the whole situation. Sexuality is a personal thing, that is so complex it can't be given justice in a label. Personally I have to live with the sword I through myself on, by trying to conform, which perhaps was my biggest mistake. I was too scared of being labelled by default, I rushed into gaining a different label and it has become my handcuffs. If I was ten years younger and a whole lot stronger I would have and should have said, I am neither straight nor gay but sexually fluid and proud of it.
Saturday, 6 February 2016
Sunday, 17 January 2016
Hard to say goodbye
The start of this year has been memorable for all the wrong reasons. Unless you have been back packing in the amazon or similar, you will be aware of all the celebrity deaths,, most of which were unexpected to the masses. Unfortunately in our house we are also dealing with the death of someone more close to home, but as it turns out even more private.
Now this may sound very morose and dark but after the last few weeks I have been through trying to pre empt problems and mediate opinions, if there is one thing I implore you to do, and that is write a plan of what you would prefer once you have left this mortal plane. Then give a copy to your next of kin or better still to a couple of people. It has been a nightmare trying to sort out not just the logistics of death but the planning of a service. Now I may be a little gothic in my belief that a funeral need to have some structure and dignity, but when you haven't got all the facts to plan a service, where else do you start.
I am not saying that you have to write out your entire service, but ideas for hymns readings even dress would be nice. To be truthful the only people who have benefited from the head in the sand attitude I am dealing with are nescafe and Benson and hedges. Grief, even more so over the festive season is painful enough, but added stress like this is even worse. Not because I want a grand affair, but because I am now suffering insomnia for fear of letting the person down. I have no bench mark or guidelines in which to plan. This already has caused disagreements within the planning party as to what is acceptable.
I would love to say this is a one off but 16 years ago I was in exactly the same position, to the point that our family split in half over opinions and only now have started to to talk to each other. Yet nothing seems to have been learnt from that experience. So come Friday, I am bracing myself for a repeat performance, wrecked with guilt, sorrow and now fear. But I know exactly what I am doing this week. Macabre as it may sound I am putting pen to paper and writing my requests down for others. So that no one else is left in the situation I am in again.
We have already lost too many people this year, and hopefully everyone can honour the losses in their own way, we don't ever expect or want to accept our time is limited. But me 2016 the year you at least accept that it helps the people left behind if you put it on paper what you want.
Now this may sound very morose and dark but after the last few weeks I have been through trying to pre empt problems and mediate opinions, if there is one thing I implore you to do, and that is write a plan of what you would prefer once you have left this mortal plane. Then give a copy to your next of kin or better still to a couple of people. It has been a nightmare trying to sort out not just the logistics of death but the planning of a service. Now I may be a little gothic in my belief that a funeral need to have some structure and dignity, but when you haven't got all the facts to plan a service, where else do you start.
I am not saying that you have to write out your entire service, but ideas for hymns readings even dress would be nice. To be truthful the only people who have benefited from the head in the sand attitude I am dealing with are nescafe and Benson and hedges. Grief, even more so over the festive season is painful enough, but added stress like this is even worse. Not because I want a grand affair, but because I am now suffering insomnia for fear of letting the person down. I have no bench mark or guidelines in which to plan. This already has caused disagreements within the planning party as to what is acceptable.
I would love to say this is a one off but 16 years ago I was in exactly the same position, to the point that our family split in half over opinions and only now have started to to talk to each other. Yet nothing seems to have been learnt from that experience. So come Friday, I am bracing myself for a repeat performance, wrecked with guilt, sorrow and now fear. But I know exactly what I am doing this week. Macabre as it may sound I am putting pen to paper and writing my requests down for others. So that no one else is left in the situation I am in again.
We have already lost too many people this year, and hopefully everyone can honour the losses in their own way, we don't ever expect or want to accept our time is limited. But me 2016 the year you at least accept that it helps the people left behind if you put it on paper what you want.
Thursday, 7 January 2016
traffic wardens and other jerks
Most of us drivers have suffered the indignity of a penalty notice stuck to our windscreen. To be honest I would say I deserved 90% of them, and up to yesterday only one stuck in my mind as totally unjust..But yesterday's ticket took the absolute biscuit and if I ever get hold of the "person", note the quote marks, who wrote it, I am in serious danger of doing bodily harm.
I, you see, are like a many others out there registered disabled complete with a blue badge, due to the fact my back and attachments are not necessarily on speaking terms with my brain. Those of us out there with these badges do get access to more accessible parking, supposedly! That is if it isn't already full of taxis, motorbikes, school run mums in a hurry, delivery lorries and every other jersey who abuses these spaces. There is a reason why we have access to such spaces, we can't walk as far or carry as much as the rest of the world. So where as some people struggle carrying their weekly shop back to their car, in my case a bottle of milk, loaf of bread, the paper and a small box of vegetable burgers has me yelping in pain to get back to the car. But if I wanted a cup of coffee it was non optional. After wasting 20 minutes and god knows what in fuel trying to find an empty space in these bays in a local high street.
Now these bays are sign posted disabled only and if everyone parks in the same direction you can get 4 possibly 5 cars in this space. However yesterday 3 cars managed to occupy the space parked in such a fashion a micra took the space of a limousine. I was not happy especially as I have a small little 2 seater. There are no white lines round the bays on the bays on the pavement only ripples in the pavement, which I now no means don't cross unless you want £110 bill. Now this is where I get really cross, when i parked a, I was the only blue badge in the bays.b, the bays rippled markers are on diagonals so unless the reliant Robin is on the return no normal shaped car fits on the ends, with in these lines, and c, my local borough must have employed a discriminatory twin of an Olympic sprinter.
It's the later point that really got me. Mainly because the law I now find is so variable it's a wonder we all don't have a direct debit going straight to our local parking authority. Now I ain't stupid with parking laws, as my hubby was one of these marshals till he saw the light. I even know enough to have successfully appalled one of those clamping firm tickets he obtained in the summer. But this one got me. Now most tickets a traffic warden has to observe the legal breech for 3 Min's before getting pen to paper, so all those jerks parked in the blue bays have a chance to escape. But apparently if your wheel so much as touches the wrong side of a textured kerb, no observation time is required, that ticket is yours. So I found out yesterday after 30 minutes in a phone queue to query this. Sod the fact that in the 15 minutes I was parked 6 yes 6 other cars were parked illegally in those bays, it me the the blue badge holder, forced to apart on the end bay that got the £110 ticket, or in English I can kiss good bye to 5th of my monthly income this month.
So tell me how the hell this is fair. I who can't walk to the 30 minute free bays that the other cars can use, gets a ticket because of actions of others. Why , if this is the case are there no white lines round these disabled bays showing the point of legality, why do you have bays in shapes cars can fit unless they either risk a ticket or worse losing the boot to the buses driving behind who don't care if they hit your over hanging arse.
And how the hell can a traffic warden can witness, write up a ticket stick it on my car and disappeared from sight in 3 minutes.. If they can move that fast we should win the 100 metres at Rio this year with them on team UK. Seriously though how come you can abuse a disabled bay and get a 3 minute grace to move your car, and of course 90% of those cars leave the driver in for just this reason. But if you are disabled don't you dare escape your pen or you will pay immediately, no grace allowed.
All this tells me is the laws, even on the road are still as prejudice as they were in the 1970's and we have the prodigal offspring of Hitler employed to crackling the whip. Sure I pay the dam ticket, but seriously I am going to jam up the system with paper work to make sure it isn't cost effective for them to receive the money.
Traffic wardens stop looking for the easy tickets and start ticketing the real jerks.
I, you see, are like a many others out there registered disabled complete with a blue badge, due to the fact my back and attachments are not necessarily on speaking terms with my brain. Those of us out there with these badges do get access to more accessible parking, supposedly! That is if it isn't already full of taxis, motorbikes, school run mums in a hurry, delivery lorries and every other jersey who abuses these spaces. There is a reason why we have access to such spaces, we can't walk as far or carry as much as the rest of the world. So where as some people struggle carrying their weekly shop back to their car, in my case a bottle of milk, loaf of bread, the paper and a small box of vegetable burgers has me yelping in pain to get back to the car. But if I wanted a cup of coffee it was non optional. After wasting 20 minutes and god knows what in fuel trying to find an empty space in these bays in a local high street.
Now these bays are sign posted disabled only and if everyone parks in the same direction you can get 4 possibly 5 cars in this space. However yesterday 3 cars managed to occupy the space parked in such a fashion a micra took the space of a limousine. I was not happy especially as I have a small little 2 seater. There are no white lines round the bays on the bays on the pavement only ripples in the pavement, which I now no means don't cross unless you want £110 bill. Now this is where I get really cross, when i parked a, I was the only blue badge in the bays.b, the bays rippled markers are on diagonals so unless the reliant Robin is on the return no normal shaped car fits on the ends, with in these lines, and c, my local borough must have employed a discriminatory twin of an Olympic sprinter.
It's the later point that really got me. Mainly because the law I now find is so variable it's a wonder we all don't have a direct debit going straight to our local parking authority. Now I ain't stupid with parking laws, as my hubby was one of these marshals till he saw the light. I even know enough to have successfully appalled one of those clamping firm tickets he obtained in the summer. But this one got me. Now most tickets a traffic warden has to observe the legal breech for 3 Min's before getting pen to paper, so all those jerks parked in the blue bays have a chance to escape. But apparently if your wheel so much as touches the wrong side of a textured kerb, no observation time is required, that ticket is yours. So I found out yesterday after 30 minutes in a phone queue to query this. Sod the fact that in the 15 minutes I was parked 6 yes 6 other cars were parked illegally in those bays, it me the the blue badge holder, forced to apart on the end bay that got the £110 ticket, or in English I can kiss good bye to 5th of my monthly income this month.
So tell me how the hell this is fair. I who can't walk to the 30 minute free bays that the other cars can use, gets a ticket because of actions of others. Why , if this is the case are there no white lines round these disabled bays showing the point of legality, why do you have bays in shapes cars can fit unless they either risk a ticket or worse losing the boot to the buses driving behind who don't care if they hit your over hanging arse.
And how the hell can a traffic warden can witness, write up a ticket stick it on my car and disappeared from sight in 3 minutes.. If they can move that fast we should win the 100 metres at Rio this year with them on team UK. Seriously though how come you can abuse a disabled bay and get a 3 minute grace to move your car, and of course 90% of those cars leave the driver in for just this reason. But if you are disabled don't you dare escape your pen or you will pay immediately, no grace allowed.
All this tells me is the laws, even on the road are still as prejudice as they were in the 1970's and we have the prodigal offspring of Hitler employed to crackling the whip. Sure I pay the dam ticket, but seriously I am going to jam up the system with paper work to make sure it isn't cost effective for them to receive the money.
Traffic wardens stop looking for the easy tickets and start ticketing the real jerks.
Tuesday, 5 January 2016
300 not out
So my 300th post is here, having taken a year's sabbatical and come back with a bang in the last post, I finally have got some direction. 2016 is going to be the year I say it as it is, like it or not. I spent a long time reviewing from afar and internally ranting at what some one people think it's socially acceptable to do.
From body shaming to public witch hunting, my view on society at the present moment can be only described in the following words, despair, infuriating and complete anger. Harsh words I know, but my relief at the moment is I have no children to raise into this world we live! That said I no feel no less responsible for the example we set the future generations.
What's worse is it doesn't seem to stop there, we have people in power who seem to have studied Victoria society and decided that's a good template to run the country by. I am waiting to hear that work houses are making a come back. As for my thoughts for the poor people flooded over the Christmas season, I am surprised that you can't hear me yelling at the news from down here.
Seriously as an individual and a weakened one at that, I know there is little I can achieve, accept perhaps get my voice and opinions heard. What I can snow ball from that, I don't know, but let's give it a try.lets see if via blogging and social media,, I and hopefully others like me can get the reinstatement of common sense and social standards.
I am not looking to move mountains here, but let's flatten a few mole hills. Now I gave up on new years resolutions a few years back, but there is a time for change and I for one think and believe that time starts now. It can start with the little things for us all, from thinking before we speak to how we react in front of other people and on social media.
There is a reason why newspapers in our house are called kitty litter liners, and doubt I need to spell it out. But that's how much we rate a lot of tabloid journalism here. Don get me wrong, I am new junkie, but the key word is news, I have little respect for stories about sexual encounters of glamour models, shopping sprees of pop stars or what a celebrities teenage child is wearing. There are far more worthy matters to concern ourselves about.
For this reason I have found that I have resorted to having the news channels as background noise nowadays. My inclination towards fashion has dwindled to a back ground rumble, As my feelings towards social examples is stronger. How can I set any kind of standard if I spend every spare moment finding faults with my own image that I can do little about with out a complete body transplant and a bank balance of a small country. Sure I still like make up and clothes and my hair colour is as variable as the British weather, but sounding off about it is going be as constructive as a sand castle, looks pretty for a while till a wave washes it away and leaves a soggy mess.
Words are a tool by which we can carve better society, the right words to the right people can be inspirational, they can become the fuel to the growth of greater things. They can cut like a knife, create a lifetime wound, or become the light in a darkened tunnel. So this year I am using mine to speak up and hopefully inspire others. If little else I hope they can provide support to others, knowing I have invested the main gift I have , time to share.
From body shaming to public witch hunting, my view on society at the present moment can be only described in the following words, despair, infuriating and complete anger. Harsh words I know, but my relief at the moment is I have no children to raise into this world we live! That said I no feel no less responsible for the example we set the future generations.
What's worse is it doesn't seem to stop there, we have people in power who seem to have studied Victoria society and decided that's a good template to run the country by. I am waiting to hear that work houses are making a come back. As for my thoughts for the poor people flooded over the Christmas season, I am surprised that you can't hear me yelling at the news from down here.
Seriously as an individual and a weakened one at that, I know there is little I can achieve, accept perhaps get my voice and opinions heard. What I can snow ball from that, I don't know, but let's give it a try.lets see if via blogging and social media,, I and hopefully others like me can get the reinstatement of common sense and social standards.
I am not looking to move mountains here, but let's flatten a few mole hills. Now I gave up on new years resolutions a few years back, but there is a time for change and I for one think and believe that time starts now. It can start with the little things for us all, from thinking before we speak to how we react in front of other people and on social media.
There is a reason why newspapers in our house are called kitty litter liners, and doubt I need to spell it out. But that's how much we rate a lot of tabloid journalism here. Don get me wrong, I am new junkie, but the key word is news, I have little respect for stories about sexual encounters of glamour models, shopping sprees of pop stars or what a celebrities teenage child is wearing. There are far more worthy matters to concern ourselves about.
For this reason I have found that I have resorted to having the news channels as background noise nowadays. My inclination towards fashion has dwindled to a back ground rumble, As my feelings towards social examples is stronger. How can I set any kind of standard if I spend every spare moment finding faults with my own image that I can do little about with out a complete body transplant and a bank balance of a small country. Sure I still like make up and clothes and my hair colour is as variable as the British weather, but sounding off about it is going be as constructive as a sand castle, looks pretty for a while till a wave washes it away and leaves a soggy mess.
Words are a tool by which we can carve better society, the right words to the right people can be inspirational, they can become the fuel to the growth of greater things. They can cut like a knife, create a lifetime wound, or become the light in a darkened tunnel. So this year I am using mine to speak up and hopefully inspire others. If little else I hope they can provide support to others, knowing I have invested the main gift I have , time to share.
sod galaxies far far away this shit got real
I let my blog slide thinking the world didn't need just another shouting voice, however over this season of goodwill (cough) I have been appalled at the socially acceptable issue of body shaming and the such I have witnessed.
Now let's get this straight from the start, I have as many issues with my looks as the next woman, be she 18 or 80, unfortunately I think it is genetically programmed in woman in to always look to improve. However that's an internal battle we have, and also the same drive we have to achieve total social equality and what also got us the vote. That said what really made me snap was the seeming acceptability there is in the media to make personal comments on a woman's appearance in regard to ageing. You can probably see where I am going with this now, but who the hell thinks it's right to compare how a woman ages in relation to her Co stars on film. What's more what kind of social example does that send to the viewers of said film.
Just because oh thirty years ago the same said actress happened to wear a bikini in the same series of films, does not make it acceptable to make personal remarks now, all of which I personally think are totally incorrect anyway. All it really does is a, make the reporter involved look like a major graduate in sexism with a side of two dimensional thinking, b, send a bad message out there to any performer of the female sex saying your career is founded on your looks only, and c, raising the business profile of every plastic surgeon everywhere.
In an ideal world everyone would have perfect teeth, be a perfect clothes size etc, and then have nothing to achieve and get bored. But that's not even the worst thing about this, it's the fact that women STILL seemed to be valued by appearance only, not by their intellect or what they achieve. Why is this so, that clothes size is more important than IQ? Have we totally forgotten the likes of Marie Curie, Mother Theresa or and it pains me to so this Margaret Thatcher, women who proved themselves equal if not better to men.
Let's get a few prior straight, a lot of women I know me included refer to make up as war paint for reason, in my house so much so I have a tool box not a vanity case. We use it to deceive people into believing in our camouflage (THINK SAS HERE). While we are on that matter also bearing mind high heels where historically created for men to tower over women, talk about role reversal. In my house if my heels come out for anything other than a ball, they know to run because it means I'm asserting my authority. By the same law of logic the idiot who wrote the article that caused me to go back to blogging ought to be very afraid, as his target is also an accomplished author and script doctor and her words are far sharper that a kitchen knife.
All that's become apparent to me is yes words are sharper than the sword, but be careful where you aim them. Sure they hurt their initial celebrity target, but it's the ripples of self loathing that's created into the masses that's more destructive. Celebrities young or old (and their offspring/partners) are becoming role models for many, whether we like it or not. So ripping into them because of their appearance has a dangerous social affect. By this reasoning reporters who promote body shaming, should be held into account for promotion in eating disorders and worse.
To all the people who have suffered being made a victim of such body shaming, raise your heads up above it, the day of reckoning is soon. Body's are only nature's tool to carry your brain and soul in, they are far more valuable than skin and bone shells. If you are need of proof, I suggest you watch the 1st half of return of the Jedi and see what a women in a bikini did to a space slug ...... Now judge a woman by her cover.
Now let's get this straight from the start, I have as many issues with my looks as the next woman, be she 18 or 80, unfortunately I think it is genetically programmed in woman in to always look to improve. However that's an internal battle we have, and also the same drive we have to achieve total social equality and what also got us the vote. That said what really made me snap was the seeming acceptability there is in the media to make personal comments on a woman's appearance in regard to ageing. You can probably see where I am going with this now, but who the hell thinks it's right to compare how a woman ages in relation to her Co stars on film. What's more what kind of social example does that send to the viewers of said film.
Just because oh thirty years ago the same said actress happened to wear a bikini in the same series of films, does not make it acceptable to make personal remarks now, all of which I personally think are totally incorrect anyway. All it really does is a, make the reporter involved look like a major graduate in sexism with a side of two dimensional thinking, b, send a bad message out there to any performer of the female sex saying your career is founded on your looks only, and c, raising the business profile of every plastic surgeon everywhere.
In an ideal world everyone would have perfect teeth, be a perfect clothes size etc, and then have nothing to achieve and get bored. But that's not even the worst thing about this, it's the fact that women STILL seemed to be valued by appearance only, not by their intellect or what they achieve. Why is this so, that clothes size is more important than IQ? Have we totally forgotten the likes of Marie Curie, Mother Theresa or and it pains me to so this Margaret Thatcher, women who proved themselves equal if not better to men.
Let's get a few prior straight, a lot of women I know me included refer to make up as war paint for reason, in my house so much so I have a tool box not a vanity case. We use it to deceive people into believing in our camouflage (THINK SAS HERE). While we are on that matter also bearing mind high heels where historically created for men to tower over women, talk about role reversal. In my house if my heels come out for anything other than a ball, they know to run because it means I'm asserting my authority. By the same law of logic the idiot who wrote the article that caused me to go back to blogging ought to be very afraid, as his target is also an accomplished author and script doctor and her words are far sharper that a kitchen knife.
All that's become apparent to me is yes words are sharper than the sword, but be careful where you aim them. Sure they hurt their initial celebrity target, but it's the ripples of self loathing that's created into the masses that's more destructive. Celebrities young or old (and their offspring/partners) are becoming role models for many, whether we like it or not. So ripping into them because of their appearance has a dangerous social affect. By this reasoning reporters who promote body shaming, should be held into account for promotion in eating disorders and worse.
To all the people who have suffered being made a victim of such body shaming, raise your heads up above it, the day of reckoning is soon. Body's are only nature's tool to carry your brain and soul in, they are far more valuable than skin and bone shells. If you are need of proof, I suggest you watch the 1st half of return of the Jedi and see what a women in a bikini did to a space slug ...... Now judge a woman by her cover.
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
poundland haul (beauty and lifestyle post)
I happened to nip into pound last week and I certainly came out poorer. I went in for stationary and ended up with a lot more.
First of all I ended up with argan oil face wipes, hair mask and heat defence spray and macadamia body lotion. As as a great lover of both macadamia and argan oil this as a major result. The body lotion was so nice I had to buy two before they sold out. As you may know you can pay up to £20 per an item for this products. So I had to sweep this up.
Then I made the mistake of looking at the makeup selection. There I found a rimmel gold eye liner and a selection of Calvin Klein eye shadows. There was a lot more to chose from including Sally Hansen and Rimmel nail colours but I had to limit my purchases.
I also picked up a DVD , book and several Cd's and still came in under £20 for the whole shop. When you consider the hair defence spray is around £13 and the eye shadows can retail up to £10 each you can see the saving.
The only thing I will say is if you are looking for something specific you have to time your shop. I tend to set myself a budget when I head into the shop or I would leave with more than I could carry. But for beauty on a budget it is worth a look.
First of all I ended up with argan oil face wipes, hair mask and heat defence spray and macadamia body lotion. As as a great lover of both macadamia and argan oil this as a major result. The body lotion was so nice I had to buy two before they sold out. As you may know you can pay up to £20 per an item for this products. So I had to sweep this up.
Then I made the mistake of looking at the makeup selection. There I found a rimmel gold eye liner and a selection of Calvin Klein eye shadows. There was a lot more to chose from including Sally Hansen and Rimmel nail colours but I had to limit my purchases.
I also picked up a DVD , book and several Cd's and still came in under £20 for the whole shop. When you consider the hair defence spray is around £13 and the eye shadows can retail up to £10 each you can see the saving.
The only thing I will say is if you are looking for something specific you have to time your shop. I tend to set myself a budget when I head into the shop or I would leave with more than I could carry. But for beauty on a budget it is worth a look.
Monday, 3 February 2014
How to fail at customer service (holiday/hotel post)
Now when it comes to staying away from home I am not a complete snob. I have enjoyed many a good time in caravans and chain's like Premier Inns. That said I also do like the luxury of hotel's like the NEC Hilton. I have one expectation, the hotel does what it claims to. So when I book a hotel that had 24 /7 room service I am of the opinion that I can get that service.
With this in mind when heading to Glasgow last weekend with one of my bff's for TG Live we were looking forward to a long weekend of quality service at the Crowne Plaza, especially as they had phoned on the Wednesday before asking for us to change rooms and matching the Hilton for price as an incentive. We had been promised a fully furnished luxury hotel with breakfast included and access to the bar that included cocktails. To us this sounded perfect as we tend to kick loose on the Saturday.
We did not expect to walk into a building site with the stench of paint. But as we checked in we should have been warned. First of all the booking was incorrect and we had to stand there whilst they corrected this. At this point noticing the restaurant and bar were out of commission. The receptionist assured us that this work would be complete by the morning. By this point we were both feeling heady from the paint fumes. There was no concierge service to out room leaving my friend to struggle with both our suitcases and bags as I hopped on my crutches. They never asked if in an emergency I could hopped 4 floors of stairs.
The room was typical of this level of hotel and I must say the beds were bigger than the average single and not short of pillows. Now having been on the road since 6.30 am and stuck in a wheelchair, car or plane for all of that I was itching to move about and explore. We navigated the weird lift system to get to the temporary restaurant and bar. Well I have never been so horrified by such an unwelcoming area in my life. Shutters up, lack of seating tacky decor and sin of sin staff who really couldn't give a dam. Needless to say we didn't stay there and went into the city for a look around, shop and eat.
Laden up with shopping, we stopped off to have a drink with another friend at her hotel and catch up. At least her bar was welcoming. I think a t this point niggling doubts were running through our heads.
Apart from some hyper noise from happy guest's we slept well and were ready to face the day a fresh. Eagerly we headed to breakfast in the newly opened area. Well there was less of the paint smell but instead a queue from hell. The place had the organisation of a sinking ship and yet there were tables not even laid ready. Yes they had all the typical breakfast items and the cooked items were labelled well. However I was unimpressed with the tea/coffee service and that was just the 1st day.
We were set to see the first show and to kill time we finally treated to the specialist coffee bar advertised so we sipped lattes whilst enquiring about the nights cocktail menu. It was unavailable but promised for the evening. Due to the soggy weather we asked about the route for the internal walkway to the Hydro, only to be told it wasn't open. We subsequently were to find this was a lie and it was open. When we returned from the show with a friend we were to find out that the coffee machine was broken and we were unable to order even filter coffee. Thinking this was only a bar issue when we were to order room service the request for coffee wasn't going to be a problem. However it was coffee was no longer available in the entire hotel.
To be honest that set the tone for the evening, when we headed to the bar we were about to find our Saturday night ruined. Cocktails! What bloody cocktails even a simple black Russian was unavailable. In fact the total attitude from the bar staff sucked. Tables were left cluttered with half eaten food, customers weren't served in order and to be honest the favourite word seemed to be no. By midnight I had lost rag all I wanted was a brandy and coffee then bed. After letting the duty manager know for thE second time about the disgusting service suddenly a coffee for two appeared.
To be honest I thought it couldn't get any worse on Sunday, but it did. The breakfast queue was as bad if not worse than ever. We dared to order the waffles and pancakes between us. When they did show up warm there was nothing with them no butter syrup nothing. So we asked for some . Five minutes later when the food was getting cold the waitress sent a manager to tell us there wasn't any syrup and to use jam! By now my friend had got fed up and gave me her plate not wanting to eat cold pancakes. Any way half way through me eating them what arrives but blinking pancakes syrup. Wonderful!
After my cigarette post breakfast I got the lift back to the room only to hear that people were having problems with their water supply. So I was a little concerned about my shower. Sure as black is black when I tried the water we had neither hot or cold water. Kind of ironic being sited next to the Clyde river. That lead to another complaint which was graced with even even more complacency. By now I think I was at the stage of crying.
How we put up with that place for another night I don't know, but it did involve eating in Glasgow City. When we checked out and complained about this circus we were told they would remove the room service charge. Even after we spoke to the duty manager I still felt they were failing the customers.
Anyway we were treated to club class on the flight home thank you British Airways for the upgrade Whilst we were enjoying the luxury buffet my friend decided to check her receipt from the hotel only to find they had invoiced her one amount and then charged her over a hundred pounds extra. She is still dealing with this via her bank. But that about sums up the treatment we received from the Crown Plaza Glasgow. We won't be back
With this in mind when heading to Glasgow last weekend with one of my bff's for TG Live we were looking forward to a long weekend of quality service at the Crowne Plaza, especially as they had phoned on the Wednesday before asking for us to change rooms and matching the Hilton for price as an incentive. We had been promised a fully furnished luxury hotel with breakfast included and access to the bar that included cocktails. To us this sounded perfect as we tend to kick loose on the Saturday.
We did not expect to walk into a building site with the stench of paint. But as we checked in we should have been warned. First of all the booking was incorrect and we had to stand there whilst they corrected this. At this point noticing the restaurant and bar were out of commission. The receptionist assured us that this work would be complete by the morning. By this point we were both feeling heady from the paint fumes. There was no concierge service to out room leaving my friend to struggle with both our suitcases and bags as I hopped on my crutches. They never asked if in an emergency I could hopped 4 floors of stairs.
The room was typical of this level of hotel and I must say the beds were bigger than the average single and not short of pillows. Now having been on the road since 6.30 am and stuck in a wheelchair, car or plane for all of that I was itching to move about and explore. We navigated the weird lift system to get to the temporary restaurant and bar. Well I have never been so horrified by such an unwelcoming area in my life. Shutters up, lack of seating tacky decor and sin of sin staff who really couldn't give a dam. Needless to say we didn't stay there and went into the city for a look around, shop and eat.
Laden up with shopping, we stopped off to have a drink with another friend at her hotel and catch up. At least her bar was welcoming. I think a t this point niggling doubts were running through our heads.
Apart from some hyper noise from happy guest's we slept well and were ready to face the day a fresh. Eagerly we headed to breakfast in the newly opened area. Well there was less of the paint smell but instead a queue from hell. The place had the organisation of a sinking ship and yet there were tables not even laid ready. Yes they had all the typical breakfast items and the cooked items were labelled well. However I was unimpressed with the tea/coffee service and that was just the 1st day.
We were set to see the first show and to kill time we finally treated to the specialist coffee bar advertised so we sipped lattes whilst enquiring about the nights cocktail menu. It was unavailable but promised for the evening. Due to the soggy weather we asked about the route for the internal walkway to the Hydro, only to be told it wasn't open. We subsequently were to find this was a lie and it was open. When we returned from the show with a friend we were to find out that the coffee machine was broken and we were unable to order even filter coffee. Thinking this was only a bar issue when we were to order room service the request for coffee wasn't going to be a problem. However it was coffee was no longer available in the entire hotel.
To be honest that set the tone for the evening, when we headed to the bar we were about to find our Saturday night ruined. Cocktails! What bloody cocktails even a simple black Russian was unavailable. In fact the total attitude from the bar staff sucked. Tables were left cluttered with half eaten food, customers weren't served in order and to be honest the favourite word seemed to be no. By midnight I had lost rag all I wanted was a brandy and coffee then bed. After letting the duty manager know for thE second time about the disgusting service suddenly a coffee for two appeared.
To be honest I thought it couldn't get any worse on Sunday, but it did. The breakfast queue was as bad if not worse than ever. We dared to order the waffles and pancakes between us. When they did show up warm there was nothing with them no butter syrup nothing. So we asked for some . Five minutes later when the food was getting cold the waitress sent a manager to tell us there wasn't any syrup and to use jam! By now my friend had got fed up and gave me her plate not wanting to eat cold pancakes. Any way half way through me eating them what arrives but blinking pancakes syrup. Wonderful!
After my cigarette post breakfast I got the lift back to the room only to hear that people were having problems with their water supply. So I was a little concerned about my shower. Sure as black is black when I tried the water we had neither hot or cold water. Kind of ironic being sited next to the Clyde river. That lead to another complaint which was graced with even even more complacency. By now I think I was at the stage of crying.
How we put up with that place for another night I don't know, but it did involve eating in Glasgow City. When we checked out and complained about this circus we were told they would remove the room service charge. Even after we spoke to the duty manager I still felt they were failing the customers.
Anyway we were treated to club class on the flight home thank you British Airways for the upgrade Whilst we were enjoying the luxury buffet my friend decided to check her receipt from the hotel only to find they had invoiced her one amount and then charged her over a hundred pounds extra. She is still dealing with this via her bank. But that about sums up the treatment we received from the Crown Plaza Glasgow. We won't be back
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